The suspension of Lamido Sanusi as the Governor of the Central Bank continues to cause consternation in international circles. Rightly or wrongly, the consensus emerging is that he was removed to stop further unearthing of corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The whole incident has put Nigeria yet again in a very bad light, as a country where corruption holds sway. It beggars belief that the person who informed the President of possible corruption in the NNPC ends up being the one in the dock. This is simply amazing.
This is one of those moments when you just feel sorry for this country. Given the gravity of the allegations of financial recklessness advanced as the reasons for Sanusi’s suspension, it beggars belief why it took the Presidency seven months to notify him of these allegations; unless of course, as most believe, this may not be the real reason for the suspension after all.
There is no doubt that Sanusi has not endeared himself to a large section of the ruling class. His detractors have accused him of being too vocal and unrestrained in his comments, a manner adjudged as unbecoming of a central bank governor. In any other clime, Sanusi would quite rightly have been sanctioned for exceeding his brief, but Nigeria is not like any other country. In a country where public institutions are neck deep in corruption, and where oftentimes, it seems as if there is a collective conspiracy at the top echelons of power to defraud Nigerians, many argue that we need the likes of Sanusi to expose malpractices. He was seen by his admirers as a lone ranger, taking on the might of a government that has no appetite to fight corruption. Sadly for Sanusi, and indeed Nigeria, his attempt to open the Pandora’s box that the NNPC accounts have become was a bridge too far. Sanusi’s story was not to end as the triumphant David over the mighty Goliath. In Nigeria, corruption has a habit of fighting back and it fought back, and won.
It is regrettable that the debate and the discussions are now about the messenger rather than the issues he raised regarding accountability in the NNPC, a government agency we now learn has not submitted any audited accounts since 2005. This is outrageous and should be of great concern to any government, given that this is the nation’s main source of revenue. This in itself is an indictment of all the regulatory agencies responsible for overseeing the NNPC, including the National Assembly and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria that indicted Sanusi.
Sadly in Nigeria, we seem to pay lip service to the fight against corruption. The government seems to be more eager to hush those who expose corruption and irregularity than address the underlying malpractice they uncover. Just last September, the London-based think-tank, Chatham House, reported on how Nigeria’s oil is being looted on an industrial scale, aided and abetted by corrupt government and security officials. The report exposed how criminal networks were stealing at least 100,000 barrels of Nigeria’s oil daily. This translates to an average loss in potential revenue to the Federal Government of about $5bn or N1.4tn a year, more than the N1.1tn allocation for capital expendicture in the 2014 budget proposals. Again, instead of addressing the message, government spokesmen went into defence mode. Even Nigeria’s official news broadcaster, the Nigerian Television Authority, barely gave this report a mention in the airwaves. The Ribadu committee report of the colossal corruption in the NNPC suffered an even worse fate. Instead of committing resources to investigate the concerns he raised, government press officers turned the guns on him to discredit his report. The poor man was vilified for daring to expose the depth of corruption in the oil sector. His report no doubt has died a certain death in Aso Rock like many others before him. It is striking to note that despite the international outcry about the corruption and thievery in Nigeria’s oil sector, not one perpetrator is in the dock for this crime. Many believe that the senior management of the NNPC should rightly be the ones in the dock at this time, not Sanusi.
Sadly, we, the people, have not helped matters in the fight against corruption. We celebrate and fete those who steal from us and make excuses for them. The current state of affairs in Nigeria is not just the problem of leadership but also a cowering and gullible electorate that is ready to take anything you throw at them. Our values have become eroded by long years of corruption, that we are no longer able to tell the difference between right and wrong. We allow the political elite to use religious and tribal sentiments to numb our faculties, and defend and make excuses for them even when they steal from us. Stories abound of states and public institutions where civil servants and pensioners are owed several months in unpaid salaries allowances while their governors and ministers spend their time hopping from one lavish wedding to another unperturbed.
It is almost two years since the Otedola/ Lawan scandal hit our newsstands. The evidence laid out before Nigerians suggested that this would have been a relatively easy case to prosecute, but two years on, the wheel of justice continues to grind even slower. The Alamiesiegha pardon and the Stella Oduah scandal are all recent events that have caused some consternation in the country.
There is no doubt that this President has recorded some achievements, not the least the privatisation of the power sector, for which he rightly deserves credit, but on the fight against corruption, he has failed woefully. In this fight, perception matters a lot and the perception in today’s Nigeria is that corruption pays. Unfortunately for this administration, history, rightly or wrongly, will not record Sanusi’s alleged misdemeanours as the reasons for his removal from office, but his relentless quest to uncover corruption in the NNPC. The media, the Civil Society and indeed Nigerians must now pick up the gauntlet and demand answers from the NNPC for the alleged missing $20bn crude oil sales proceeds.